(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, Fellow Practitioners!
I learned about Falun Dafa while I was searching for a way to cure my illnesses. After studying the Fa, I understood that Falun Dafa teaches the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. It is a great, high-level practice of the Buddha school. I gave up my pursuit of curing illnesses – I wanted to be a firm cultivator.
The ailments that had tortured me for many years were gone within a week after I started practicing Dafa.
As I studied more, I learned to look within and think of others first. I worked on getting rid of my attachments, such as a show-off mentality, jealousy, a competitive mentality, and complaining of unfairness. Soon, the tension between my husband and me were gone.
Seeing my physical and spiritual changes, my husband began practicing. Along with millions of Dafa practitioners, we followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to purify our minds, and began to bring an enhanced morality to the society.
However, Jiang Zemin, then head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), started suppressing Falun Dafa on July 20, 1999. Dafa practitioners were persecuted.
I went to my relative's home to tell people the facts about Falun Dafa, so that they could understand the wonderfulness of Dafa, the greatness and benevolence of Master, the kindness of Dafa disciples, and the real nature of the CCP.
On my way home, I was stopped by the police at a checkpoint. They searched my bag and found Dafa books. I was arrested and put in a detention center, where I was forced to go through an intensive reform” process for three months.
My husband visited me in the detention center. He brought me a copy of Master's new article. The guards found it and arrested him. He was sentenced to two years in a forced labor camp.
Our nine-year-old son was left home by himself. Our neighbors took care of him. Later one of my relatives took him in.
I was released in 90 days. I had lost my job because I was a Dafa practitioner. To support my son and me, I had to take on temporary manual labor. I planted trees, loaded trucks, broke stones, and picked hawthorns and ears of corn. I would take whatever job was available.
I was asked, “You used to wear white clothes and work in an office building. Isn't it painful for you to do manual labor?”
I knew it was not accidental for me to hear such a question. Looking within, I found several attachments: worrying about losing face, being afraid of enduring hardship, and complaining about unfairness. I replied with a smile, “I am comfortable making money with my own hands. It is not painful at all.” Then I got rid of those attachments.
I often repeated by heart Master's poem “Tempering the Will” (Hong Yin):
“Physical pains count little as suffering,Indeed, cultivating mind is hardest.”
Following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, I thought of others. We usually had an hour lunch break. Other people would take a rest while waiting for lunch. I helped the boss set up for lunch.
I kept telling people how wonderful Dafa is and the benefits I got from practicing. I also told them to watch out for lies that the CCP created about Dafa, and the damage atheism does to people. They understood and were open to what I had to say.
Since people appreciated my character and good attitude toward work, and I always found another job when the current one ended.
Once I got a job picking corn for a couple who knew me. They were my brother's classmates. The wife asked me, “Can you do hard labor? I remember you had a heart attack a few years ago. It was very scary.” That had been several years before. She was visiting a relative of mine, and I was there, too. Suddenly I had a heart attack. She saw me lying on the bed, face turning pale, lips purple; and soon I had to be carried out.
“Do I look like I'm about to die?” I asked her with a smile.
“Not at all. You look very healthy. How did you regain your health?”
I told them I practiced Falun Dafa. I worked quickly picking the corn. My work was clean and neat. Both the husband and wife said, “It is really good to practice Falun Dafa!”
Another time I picked corn for another landlord. I kept reciting Master's teaching as I worked:
“This is not the enlightenment that we refer to. Rather, it is what this person calls 'foolish' in terms of self-interest, and that is the enlightenment we have talked about. Of course, such a person is not really foolish. We simply treat the issue of personal, vested interests with indifference, while in other areas we are very wise. In terms of conducting scientific research projects or carrying out assignments from our supervisors or other duties, we are very clear-minded and perform them very well. Only in terms of our personal benefits or our interpersonal conflicts will we care less. Who will call you foolish? Nobody will say that you are foolish—it’s guaranteed to be so.” (Zhuan Falun)
Then I looked at the other workers – I was four meters ahead of them.
On another job, I walked to the landlord's home during lunch break. Suddenly, I felt extremely tired and my chest was tight. I managed to get inside and sat on the kang (a heatable brick bed which serves as both a bed and sitting area in Northeast China). I lay down, feeling like I was in a pit. I was dizzy and out of breath. My body was out of my control. I felt I was dying.
I had a thought: “I am a practitioner. I have my Master.” Then I was able to think clearly. I said to myself, “I am a practitioner. I am supernormal.” I kept taking to myself: “Do I have illness? No. Then why would I lay down?” I got up immediately. I brought a bowl of tofu to the table and then a bowl of buns. My legs were so weak that I felt like I was stepping on cotton. I knew Master was strengthening me since I had the thought of “being a supernormal person.”
Sitting on a stool, I wanted to eat, but I didn't even have the strength to hold a bun. The landlord's wife asked me, “You look pale. Are you in pain?”
I said to myself, “I should not sit here and let people see that I am in a bad way. That would damage Dafa's reputation.” I told her that I was fine and went to the bathroom. I couldn't stand up in the bathroom, either.
Leaning against the wall, I started looking within. “What has caused this? I did good work that morning. I also told people about Falun Dafa and they enjoyed listening. But then I developed an attitude of zealotry and the old forces took advantage of it to create trouble for me. This condition was persecution, not a case of eliminating my karma. The old forces did not want to me to tell people the facts about Dafa.”
I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil's persecution of my body and the vicious old forces' attempt to prevent people from hearing the truth about Dafa. The interference was strong. I couldn't concentrate. I said the Fa-rectification formula loudly. Twenty minutes later, my mind was clear. But I still had no strength. Nor did I want to eat.
“How are you doing?” The landlord's wife came to ask me.
“I am fine,” I replied. I followed the others to the cornfield.
It was hard for me to walk. I kept repeating in my mind:
“When it is difficult to endure, try to endure it. When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible.” (Zhuan Falun)
I managed to get to the cornfield, but I had no strength to tear off the ears of corn. I used a nail to cut the stalk open. Then I put the nail in the stalk and leaned my body weight on it to make a hole. Then I put the nail at another location to make another hole. After a few times, it got easier to break the ear of corn off the stalk. Putting the stalk against my leg, I applied my entire body weight on the ear to break it off.
But this took too much time.
I asked Master to strengthen my righteous thoughts. I repeated from memory Master's poem, “Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions” (Hong Yin Vol. II)
“A Great Enlightened One fears no hardshipHaving forged an adamantine willFree of attachment to living or dyingHe walks the path of Fa-rectificationconfident and poised”
My strength started to return. I caught up and harvested the same amount of corn as the other workers.
When we finished work that evening, I didn't feel any pain. My body was light. I rode my bicycle, “flying” home like a bird.
I knew very well that it was Master strengthening me. With righteous thoughts, I was able to overcome the old forces' persecution of my body. Otherwise the consequences could have been very bad.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, Dafa!
I can't describe Master's benevolence and magnificence with any human words. The only thing I can do is to be diligent and ever more diligent!
Thank you, Master! Heshi.
